Report: Pioneer Might Be Working on Aftermarket CarPlay Stereos

You love your iPhone so much that the promise of being able to use a car-friendly version of it is enough to get you thinking about rolling your current heap off a cliff to collect the insurance money, right?

I’ll pass no judgment except to say that the possible consequences outweigh the benefits, and that you should really get your priorities in order. It’s dangerous, too. All around, this little scheme you’ve cooked up is a really, really bad idea. No judgment, though.

Also, you might be able to just install a CarPlay-compatible aftermarket stereo in your current heap – or, if you’re lucky, simply update the stereo you already have. Mac Rumors is reporting that a reader apparently heard from a Pioneer rep that Pioneer “is looking into the possibility of implementing CarPlay compatibility with both its existing and future products.”

Regardless of the veracity of this rumor, it’s probable that most aftermarket stereo makers are “looking into the possibility” of CarPlay compatibility, too. And Pioneer already offers several MirrorLink-compatible stereos that provide a CarPlay-like experience to a handful of smartphones, so there’s probably not a whole lot of heavy lifting involved to get CarPlay systems up and running. Pioneer already touts itself as having “the most smartphone connectivity options.”

It’d behoove Apple to get as many CarPlay-compatible systems on the road as possible and, as MacRumors points out, Mercedes is already toiling away on aftermarket CarPlay systems for its own cars.

The real trick for Apple to get CarPlay to take off on a massive scale will be to offer a bunch of third-party CarPlay-compatible systems that can be purchased at Crutchfield or Best Buy and installed in just about any car. And ideally, an outfit like Pioneer would eventually offer head units that are both CarPlay and MirrorLink compatible, so you could hop between iPhones and other smartphones as you please.

Pioneer Working on Aftermarket CarPlay Compatibility [Mac Rumors]